Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Well, we just don’t know. (click on pictures or here to see full size versions):

These are ads created in Romania for Greenpeace and, although these are in English, they may be intended for Eastern Europe.

Mutations? Really? This went out of style after Universal Pictures grew tired of growing tarantulas and praying mantises to the size of houses in the 1950s.

Greenpeace can make all the arguments against nuclear energy they want, but dishonestly leads to a loss of credibility. We can’t imagine Greenpeace USA using these ads, but if this is their response to the vastly increased interest in nuclear energy in Europe, this is a battle they’re fated to lose.

The unfortunate part is that other energy sources (such as coal, geothermal and even natural gas) release more radiation into the environment than nuclear -- but there is no warm/fuzzy way to demonstrate this that I can come up with.

Perhaps was is needed is a series of commercials, explaining the limitations of each renewable proposed by Greenpeace, each type in turn.

Let's begin with wind. The local weather forcaster in Texas is on TV talking about high temperatures. The guy watching TV comments about how hot it is in the room, and asks his wife to switch on the air conditioner. As she does, the picture cuts away to some wind turbines spinning down as the voice of the forcaster also mentions the calm winds. Just as the air conditioner comes on, the power goes off and everything shuts down.

The commercial ends as a narrator states that while wind can be used to generate supplimental power, nuclear can provide clean, safe power even on hot afternoons when the wind doesn't blow.

I like your thinking donb. The nuclear industry does have a social intellectual problem to wrangle with in getting its message out. Your example shows how capacity factor can be explained without mentioning the phrase 'capacity factor' which would lose most people.

I also like the idea of doing a few low budget for the web only mini-infomercials. With a few people taking a few moments to explain and talk about nuclear topics with 3-10 minutes, you could do a lot that you couldn't with a normal tv spot. Maybe a few news clips might run them on broadcast TV as well if they attract attention.

"I also like the idea of doing a few low budget for the web only mini-infomercials. With a few people taking a few moments to explain and talk about nuclear topics with 3-10 minutes, you could do a lot that you couldn't with a normal tv spot."

Hmm. I have a Geiger counter and a deep voice. Unfortunately I as yet have nothing to measure with the Geiger counter, and if I've ever been described as photogenic, it was by a good-natured liar in poor lighting.

My goodness. I live and attend school in Chicago, so there are frequently Greenpeacers on the street corners wanting to stop me. On the occasion that I do stop, I let them know that I can't support Greenpeace because of their official stance against nuclear. One guy told me that personally, he supports nuclear. Another girl tried say that Greenpeace is not anti-nuclear at all! I just walked away at that joke.

I don't know what to say about this. They're preying on decades-passed, unfounded fears about nuclear power and inventing issues. I think the only caveats left in the US are the start-up capital and waste storage.

Greenpeace's contribution to the first European Nuclear Energy Forum meeting was also cartoonish (including inflatable Homer Simpson) and belligerently dogmatic in nature. You can find it in the "presentations" zip file on that site.

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